For my uncle Mark who gave me this book of poems.
The Nature of This Flower Is to Bloom
And for ourselves, the intrinsic
“Purpose is to reach, and to remember,
and to declare our commitment to all
the living, without deceit, and without
fear, and without reservation. We do
What we can. And by doing it, we keep
ourselves trusting, which is to say,
vulnerable, and more than that,
what can anyone ask?
-June Jordan, in a personal letter, 1970
Alice Walker ‘Revolutionary Petunias
